Conversations in and Around the Car
by hunterwolf11
Summary: Oneshot story for each episode involving a missing scene where Brennan and Booth are in or around their vehicle. Starts with the Pilot. POV may swtich with each story as they're meant to be stand alones.
1. Pilot

A/N: It's been awhile and I know I've left a couple of my earlier works incomplete...but the way the fourth season has gone and the timeline I put on it I feel they have become obsolete. The lesson I've learned is to have it completed before I start posting or make my stories a series of oneshots, as I'm doing here. My plan is to write a story to fill in a missing scene involving a car ride in each episode. Hope you guys like it, and here we go!

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Brennan leaned wearily against the Tahoe and sighed. She'd shot a man tonight. Sure, he was still alive, but she hadn't been ready for how terrible she would feel afterwards. The scene ran through her mind a dozen times, trying to determine if there had been any way around it. Glancing at Booth, standing beside her like a silent guardian, she had to smile a little.

He was a complete enigma to her, though admittedly most people were. She'd thought after their first case that he really didn't like her, and to be honest she really didn't care much for him, but in the course of the past few days she'd discovered that he had put his reputation at the bureau on the line for her. That had meant a lot to her. She wasn't used to people standing up for her. And now she was terrified that she had put his career in jeopardy by her rash decision to confront the suspect alone.

Deputy Director Cullen approached the pair with a scowl on his face and pulled Booth a few paces away. "Agent Booth, I need you to arrest Dr. Brennan for assault with a deadly weapon."

Brennan watched detachedly as Booth looked at his superior with shock and anger, "What? Sir, this is clearly a case of self-defense. That bastard was going to light her up along with all the evidence. I can't arrest her!"

Cullen moved his glare from Booth to Brennan for a moment before turning his ire back to the agent. "By her own account of events she gave _no_ warning to the suspect; she just hauled out a gun and shot him. Not to mention that she'd been drinking. She is _not_ an agent and had no right to confront the suspect alone in the first place. She demonstrates very bad judgment and common sense; I don't care how high her IQ is."

"She is the one who discovered who the real killer was here, and now, thanks to her and her 'bad judgment' we have all the evidence we need to put him away. You want me to punish her for that?"

As this case had proven to her, Brennan was not always the best at reading people, but from the way the vein in Cullen's forehead was standing out and pulsing with a rapid pace she was pretty sure Booth was upsetting him. Booth had jeopardized his career enough for her; she had to stop this. She moved quickly to Booth's side and tugged on his jacket sleeve slightly. "It's ok, Booth. You can arrest me." The agent looked down at her with disbelief and even a small amount of pain, which surprised her. Brennan smiled slightly and nudged him, hoping to get one of those brief moments of playful camaraderie they had begun to establish on this case, "Do your job. Be a cop."

Seeing that her words had calmed Booth down a little Cullen relaxed himself. He was surprised she was willing to take the consequences of her actions so readily. He had expected her to be much more belligerent and self-righteous. "We can't have civilians going vigilante on us. Especially when they work closely with the FBI. We have appearances to maintain. I'm sure the charges will be dismissed on a claim of self-defense, but if anything like this ever happens again in the future, Dr. Brennan, you will no longer be able to work with the bureau."

Brennan looked away from Booth in surprise at that statement and met Cullen's eyes evenly. "I understand, thank you."

Cullen looked rather annoyed at her thanks and shook his head. As he headed away back towards the scene he called out over his shoulder, "I don't hear you mirandizing her, Booth. And use the handcuffs. I hear she took out a Homeland Security agent and I wouldn't want her to get the jump on you."

Booth sighed and chuckled helplessly at the same time. Placing a hand on her back he began to lead Brennan to the passenger side of the Tahoe. "Dr. Temperance Brennan you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney, which I'm sure you can afford, though if you couldn't one would be appointed for you. Do you understand your rights?"

Brennan was climbing into the passenger seat as Booth finished and she shifted to look at him and held her still-free hands up. "You were supposed to cuff me."

"Just say yes, Bones."

"That sounds like coercion. What if I don't understand?"

The slamming of the car door was her only response.

Brennan buckled her seatbelt as Booth sat down behind the wheel and started the vehicle. He sat in silence for a moment listening to the engine idle. Eventually, he started laughing, and Brennan looked over at him, confused. "Most people don't thank people for threatening them, Bones."

"He was giving me permission to continue working with you. Or, at least, the bureau, I can understand if you didn't want to work with me again."

The minutes passed in uncomfortable silence as Booth pulled away from the scene and refused to answer the implied question. As they pulled up to the local precinct Brennan finally broke the silence, "Yes, I understand my rights."

Booth looked down, "I'm sorry I have to do this, Bones."

"It's your job. You put away the bad guys."

Booth looked at her seriously and put a hand on her arm. "You're not a bad guy. Yes, I think you made a bad decision. You need to learn that you can't do everything by yourself. Sometimes we all need help. If you're ready to enter into a real partnership, I'd be willing to work with you. I don't want you to answer me now; think about it. I'll take you in here, get you booked, and see you at the funeral tomorrow, ok?"

"What if I can't make bail?"

Booth got out of the car and moved around to open her door. "It's like working with a four year old with all the what if questions." Then, seeing the hurt flash in her eyes, he felt a little bad and led her forward toward the precinct jail entrance with a hand at her back, "Aw, hell, if you can't make bail I'd bail you out, Bones."


	2. A Boy in a Tree

A/N: Due to the fact that Booth uses a key card to access the forensic platform in The Man in the SUV but doesn't actually get the key card until the next episode A Boy in a Tree I decided to put this one first, since that indicates a logical progression that A Boy in a Tree was intended to air first. I may not always go by "intended" air date in the future, but for this one there is a logical reason to do so, and I'm too much like Brennan to refute logic.

In this episode I also felt there was a distinct shift in their attitude towards each other midway through. They were very snippy with each other early on but became more relaxed later. This is my attempt to explain both the shift in attitude and the reason for Booth's grumpy morning at the very beginning.

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Booth kept his eyes on the car belonging to the Venezuelan security member as they followed him back to the embassy. This whole thing was getting more complicated by the minute. It wasn't bad enough that this case dealt with the elite who felt they were above the law and protected by their money and status but Brennan apparently hadn't learned her lesson after their last case, after all.

"I thought we'd agreed that you wouldn't go off confronting people on your own any more, considering how well that's worked in the recent past." He tried to keep his voice as neutral as possible, but he couldn't help the undercurrent of anger.

Brennan had been staring out the passenger side window with the same sulky pout she'd had since he had neglected to return her sarcastic "good morning to you too" the day before. Now she turned to him in angry confusion, "You were right behind me, I wasn't alone."

"No, see, I was in front of you, and you pushed past me and just rushed headlong into a physical confrontation." He was trying so hard to restrain his anger but everything she said just fed the fire.

"You ordered me to stay behind like some incompetent damsel in danger. I can take care of myself just fine, Booth, I don't need you to protect me."

"I think you mean damsel in distress, Bones."

Blue eyes flashed dangerously as she glared at him. "They mean the same thing. Why do you feel the need to point that out for me? Are you trying to prove something since I said that some people are smarter than others?"

Sighing, Booth gripped the wheel a little tighter and kept his eyes on the car. 'Focus, breathe, don't let her bait you.' "If I said that our victim had a broken throat bone, what would you say?" He purposely kept his tone gentler now, more empathetic, hoping she would see where he was going with this.

"I would tell you that it's called a hyoid bone."

"So you would correct me, even though my meaning was perfectly obvious. It's not done to belittle you, Bones. I'm trying to educate you about regular people. Just like I'm sure you're just trying to educate me and not belittle me, right?"

He caught Brennan's slight frown as she turned to stare out the passenger window again. "That's logical, I suppose."

Laughing a little, grateful for the lessening tension between them, Booth couldn't help but throw a television reference in, wondering if she would get one that was a little older. "See, if Spock and Kirk could get along, we can too."

"I don't know what that means. I mean, I know who Dr. Spock is, he was a pediatrician who became renowned for his book on child rearing techniques, but I have no idea who this Kirk person is or how they could possibly correlate to us."

"Oh, come on, Bones. Not Dr. Spock; Mister Spock and Captain James T. Kirk. Star Trek? How could you possibly grow up and not know these things?"

"The names are familiar but I'm not sure of the connotations you're trying to make. I didn't watch much television as a child. My parents were educators and I spent a lot of time reading or making science experiments with my dad."

Seeing her expression fall as she mentioned her family Booth decided to change the subject. "Well, google it and tell me if you think I'm wrong, Bones."

"You claim you don't intentionally belittle me, but you insist on using that ridiculous nickname for me. It's very insulting."

Booth glanced over to see her pouting out the window again. "It's not insulting. It's what you do, you work with bones."

"It's a large part of what I do but not all of it. Should I call you Interrogator?"

Booth laughed and nodded. "I like that. Interrogator, it sounds intimidating and manly." Hearing her scoff in disgust he rolled his eyes and changed the subject again. "Look, back to the original point, I don't see you as a damsel in...danger..." Finally, a hint of amusement as she glanced at him. "I know you can take care of yourself. You don't have to prove anything to me, ok? But while you're working in the field it is my responsibility to make sure nothing happens to you. I'll try not to ask you to stay put unless it's absolutely necessary, but you can't go charging in front of me, either. I've got the gun, I go first."

"If you'd let me have a gun it wouldn't be an issue."

Booth pulled up at the embassy. "We agreed we make up for what the other lacks. You get to work with the decomposing bodies, I get the gun. Sounds fair, and mutually beneficial."

Brennan shook her head as she exited the vehicle. "It's hardly fair, but yes, we have a...symbiotic relationship."

Booth winced as they followed the security agent inside. "Isn't that like parasites and stuff?"

"Not exactly. You can google it and tell me if I'm wrong."

Grinning, Booth held open the door as Brennan entered the building. Maybe this partnership could work after all. Though he still thought Tessa's complaints and jealousy, which had started his foul mood recently, were certainly misplaced. He and Bones were far too different.

Right?

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One last note: I'm trying to put a few foreshadowing elements into these, e.g. "symbiotic" and the fact that Booth uses that term over and over in The Widow's Son in the Windshield and Brennan offhandedly mentioning googling the rappers in The Man in the Wall. With the number of alerts and such, I would think I'd be getting more reviews...so please please please review! Good or bad, I can take it!


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